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FTC Chairman Releases 2019 Annual Highlights

By  |  April 26, 2020

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Joe Simons released a summary of the agency’s 2019 Annual Highlights, calling attention to the Commission’s ongoing efforts to protect consumers and promote a competitive marketplace.

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    The Highlights note that FTC actions have led to more than US$232 million in refunds to consumers across the country, with US$136 million sent directly from the FTC. Over the last four years, consumers have cashed more than US$1 billion in FTC refund checks. 

    The Highlights also note that the Commission continued its efforts to challenge harmful mergers and stop anticompetitive business conduct. For example, the Commission took enforcement actions to preserve competition in health care and consumer products markets and established a new Technology Enforcement Division to investigate potential anticompetitive conduct in digital platform markets.

    “We continued to advance our aggressive enforcement agenda in 2019,” Chairman Simons said. “In addition to the record-breaking privacy settlements with Facebook, and Google/YouTube, the FTC challenged a host of anticompetitive mergers and conduct, and took action to stop consumer fraud and deception in the marketplace.”

    A copy of the full report can be found here.

    Full Content: FTC

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